ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Monika Bulaj - Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

Why you should listen

Monika Bulaj is a photographer and writer who explores -- in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe -- the dim areas of monotheism, where the sacred can transcend borders: Bonfires, dances, cults of the dead, possession rites. She describes outskirts and deserts, frontiers and megalopolis. And the world of the last ones: nomads, farmers, immigrants, outcasts, untouchables and impure.

Her photos and reportaging have been published by GEO, National Geographic (Italy), La Repubblica, periodicals by Gruppo Espresso and Rcs, Courrier International, Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Internazionale, Freundin, Teatr (Poland) and other international magazines.
She has displayed more than 50 personal exibitions in Italy, Germany, Ungheria, Bulgaria, Egypt.

Her books include Libya felix, a travel into Sufism and the world of the Tuaregh; Figli di Noè, on minorities and faiths in Azerbaijian; Rebecca e la pioggia, on the nomadic tribe of the Dinka of South Sudan; Gerusalemme perduta with Paolo Rumiz, the special correspondent of La Repubblica, on the pellegrinage in the research of the Eastern Christians; Genti di Dio, viaggio nell'Altra Europa, a synthesis of 20 years of research in East Europe and Israel, and her latest book, Bozy ludzie. 

She has screenwritten documentaries, among which is the movie Romani Rat (2002) by M. Orlandi, on the Holocaust of the Roms, with the contribution of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. She's the director, photography director, and screenwriter of the documentary Figli di Noè, about the villages of Caucasus on the border between Dagestan and Azerbaigian.

Bulaj is a TED Fellow. Read TED's Q&A with Monika Bulaj >>

More profile about the speaker
Monika Bulaj | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Monika Bulaj: The hidden light of Afghanistan

मोनिका बुलाज:अफगाणिस्तानचा दडलेला प्रकाश

Filmed:
669,507 views

मोनिका बुलाज,छायाचित्रकार आपल्या अफगाणी सफरीच्या आठवणींना उजाळा देत आहेत--अफगाणी स्त्रिया व पुरुष--तिथल्या अंतर्गत बाता. आपल्याला या दहशतवादाच्या केंद्राबिंदुबाबत खरोखरच माहिती आहे का?
- Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
My travels to Afghanistan
0
0
3000
माझ्या अफगाणिस्तान कथेची सुरवात
00:18
began many, many years ago
1
3000
3000
बर्‍याच वर्षांपूर्वी सुरु झाली
00:21
on the eastern border of my country,
2
6000
3000
ही कथा आहे माझी
00:24
my homeland, Poland.
3
9000
3000
मातृभूमी पोलंडच्या पूर्व सीमेची
00:27
I was walking through the forests
4
12000
2000
जणू काही मी बालकथेतील
00:29
of my grandmother's tales.
5
14000
4000
भयावह अरण्यातून वावरत होते
00:33
A land where every field hides a grave,
6
18000
5000
एक अशी ओसाड
00:38
where millions of people
7
23000
2000
धरती जिथे
00:40
have been deported or killed
8
25000
3000
लाखो लोक
00:43
in the 20th century.
9
28000
3000
विसाव्या शतकात देशोधडीला लागली
00:46
Behind the destruction,
10
31000
2000
या विध्वंसातही
00:48
I found a soul of places.
11
33000
3000
मला त्या जागेचा आत्मा दिसत होता
00:51
I met humble people.
12
36000
2000
मी बर्‍याच दीन दुबलाना भेटले
00:53
I heard their prayer
13
38000
2000
मी त्यांची गार्हाणी ऐकली
00:55
and ate their bread.
14
40000
2000
मी त्यांच्या सोबत भाकरी खाल्ली
00:57
Then I have been walking East for 20 years --
15
42000
5000
अशाप्रकारे मी गेले वीस वर्ष पूर्वभ्रमण करीत आहे --
01:02
from Eastern Europe to Central Asia --
16
47000
3000
पूर्व युरोपे ते मध्य आशिया
01:05
through the Caucasus Mountains,
17
50000
2000
कॅउचूस पर्वतरांगांमधून
01:07
Middle East,
18
52000
2000
मध्य पूर्व
01:09
North Africa,
19
54000
2000
उत्तर आफ्रिका
01:11
Russia.
20
56000
2000
रशिया
01:13
And I ever met more humble people.
21
58000
4000
मी बर्याच दिन दुबळ्यांना भेटले
01:17
And I shared their bread and their prayer.
22
62000
3000
त्यांच्या सोबत भाजी भाकरी खाल्ली
01:20
This is why I went to Afghanistan.
23
65000
3000
माझा अफगाणिस्तानला जाण्यामागे हाच उद्देश होता
01:23
One day, I crossed the bridge
24
68000
4000
एके दिवशी मी ओक्षुस
01:27
over the Oxus River.
25
72000
2000
नदीचा पूल पार करीत होते
01:29
I was alone on foot.
26
74000
2000
या निर्मनुष्य परिसरात मी एकटीच हिंडत होते
01:31
And the Afghan soldier was so surprised to see me
27
76000
2000
अशा निर्मनुष्य ठिकाणी मला एकटीला पाहून अफगाण सैनिक चकित झाला
01:33
that he forgot to stamp my passport.
28
78000
3000
आणि माझ्या पासपोर्टवर शिक्का मारायला विसरला
01:36
But he gave me a cup of tea.
29
81000
2000
त्याने मला चहा दिला
01:38
And I understood
30
83000
2000
आणि मी समजले
01:40
that his surprise was my protection.
31
85000
3000
की ही त्याची उदारता आहे
01:43
So I have been walking and traveling,
32
88000
3000
की ही त्याची उदारता आहे
01:46
by horses, by yak, by truck, by hitchhiking,
33
91000
3000
कधी घोडेस्वारी कधी हिमयाग
01:49
from Iran's border
34
94000
2000
अगदी इराणच्या सीमेपासून
01:51
to the bottom, to the edge of the Wakhan Corridor.
35
96000
5000
वाकण छानमार्गा पर्यंत
01:56
And in this way
36
101000
2000
आणि अशाप्रकारे
01:58
I could find noor, the hidden light of Afghanistan.
37
103000
7000
जणू काही मला अफगाणिस्तानचा हरवलेला प्रकाश गवसला
02:05
My only weapon
38
110000
2000
माझी हत्यार होती --
02:07
was my notebook and my Leica.
39
112000
5000
माझी नोंदवही आणि कॅमेरा (Leica)
02:12
I heard prayers of the Sufi --
40
117000
2000
मी दिन दुबळ्या मुसलमानांची सुफी गार्हाणी एकली--
02:14
humble Muslims,
41
119000
2000
असे दिन दुबळे मुसिल्म --
02:16
hated by the Taliban.
42
121000
2000
ज्यांना तालिबानी लोकांनी नेहेमीच घृणास्पद नजरेने पाहिले
02:18
Hidden river,
43
123000
2000
गीब्राल्तर ते भारतापर्यंत
02:20
interconnected with the mysticism
44
125000
2000
वाहणारी ही
02:22
from Gibraltar to India.
45
127000
3000
गूढ नदी
02:25
The mosque where the respectful foreigner
46
130000
5000
अशी मस्जिद जिथे
02:30
is showered with blessings
47
135000
2000
परदेशी माणसाचे स्वागत
02:32
and with tears,
48
137000
3000
अश्रू आणि
02:35
and welcomed as a gift.
49
140000
4000
आशीर्वादाने केले जाते
02:39
What do we know
50
144000
2000
असा देश,
02:41
about the country and the people
51
146000
2000
जिथे भूक आणि वेदना मिटवण्याचे एकमेव साधन
02:43
that we pretend to protect,
52
148000
3000
अफिम आहे
02:46
about the villages
53
151000
3000
आपल्याला अशा
02:49
where the only one medicine
54
154000
2000
देशाच्या देशवासीयांबद्दल
02:51
to kill the pain and to stop the hunger
55
156000
2000
खरोखरच
02:53
is opium?
56
158000
2000
माहिती आहे का ?
02:55
These are opium-addicted people
57
160000
3000
ही लोक व्यसनाधीन आहेत
02:58
on the roofs of Kabul
58
163000
3000
--त्यांचे व्यसन आहे-- अफिम
03:01
10 years after the beginning of our war.
59
166000
4000
आता वळूया युद्धा नंतर १० वर्ष पुढे
03:05
These are the nomad girls
60
170000
3000
या भटक्या जमातीच्या मुली आहेत
03:08
who became prostitutes for Afghan businessmen.
61
173000
4000
ज्यांनी वेश्या व्यवसाय पत्करलाय
03:12
What do we know about the women
62
177000
2000
युद्धानंतर १० वर्षांनी
03:14
10 years after the war?
63
179000
2000
अशा स्त्रियांचे काय झाले
03:16
Clothed in this nylon bag,
64
181000
2000
त्यांचा वेश आहे
03:18
made in China,
65
183000
2000
हे नायलॉन वस्त्र
03:20
with the name of burqa.
66
185000
4000
-- जे चीन निर्मित आहे
03:24
I saw one day,
67
189000
2000
एके दिवशी मी
03:26
the largest school in Afghanistan,
68
191000
3000
अफगाणिस्तानातली सर्वात
03:29
a girls' school.
69
194000
2000
मोठी कन्या शाळा पाहीली
03:31
13,000 girls
70
196000
3000
१३००० विद्यार्थिनी
03:34
studying here
71
199000
4000
येथे शिक्षण घेतात
03:38
in the rooms underground,
72
203000
3000
शाळेच्या खोल्या जमिनीखाली आहेत--भूमिगत आहेत
03:41
full of scorpions.
73
206000
3000
आणि सोबत आहेत अचाट विंचू
03:44
And their love [for studying]
74
209000
3000
त्यांची शिक्षणाबद्दलची ओढ
03:47
was so big that I cried.
75
212000
5000
पाहून मला गहिवरून आले
03:52
What do we know
76
217000
2000
जी लोक आपल्या मुलीना कन्याशाळेत पाठवतात
03:54
about the death threats by the Taliban
77
219000
3000
त्यांच्याविरुद्ध तालिबानी लोक
03:57
nailed on the doors
78
222000
2000
फतवा जरी करतात --
03:59
of the people who dare to send their daughters to school as in Balkh?
79
224000
6000
अशा लोकांबद्दल आपल्याला काय माहिती आहे ?
04:05
The region is not secure, but full of the Taliban,
80
230000
3000
हा प्रदेश बिलकुल सुरक्षित नाही आहे
04:08
and they did it.
81
233000
2000
आणि पूर्णपणे तालिबान ग्रस्त आहे
04:10
My aim is to give a voice
82
235000
2000
माझे ध्येय नेहेमिच अशा गरिबांवर होणार्‍या या अन्यायाला
04:12
to the silent people,
83
237000
3000
वाचा फोडणे
04:15
to show the hidden lights
84
240000
4000
--हे आहे
04:19
behind the curtain of the great game,
85
244000
3000
या गरीब माणसांच्या दुनियेवर प्रसार्माध्यामानी पाठ फिरवली ;
04:22
the small worlds ignored by the media
86
247000
3000
महासत्तांच्या बड्या खेळामागे त्यांचा लढा उपेक्षित राहिला
04:25
and the prophets of a global conflict.
87
250000
2000
--अशा लोकांना मी दडलेला प्रकाश दाखवू इच्छिते
04:27
Thanks.
88
252000
2000
धन्यवाद
04:29
(Applause)
89
254000
9000
टाळ्या !!
Translated by Vaibhav Gogate
Reviewed by Abhishek Suryawanshi

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Monika Bulaj - Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

Why you should listen

Monika Bulaj is a photographer and writer who explores -- in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe -- the dim areas of monotheism, where the sacred can transcend borders: Bonfires, dances, cults of the dead, possession rites. She describes outskirts and deserts, frontiers and megalopolis. And the world of the last ones: nomads, farmers, immigrants, outcasts, untouchables and impure.

Her photos and reportaging have been published by GEO, National Geographic (Italy), La Repubblica, periodicals by Gruppo Espresso and Rcs, Courrier International, Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Internazionale, Freundin, Teatr (Poland) and other international magazines.
She has displayed more than 50 personal exibitions in Italy, Germany, Ungheria, Bulgaria, Egypt.

Her books include Libya felix, a travel into Sufism and the world of the Tuaregh; Figli di Noè, on minorities and faiths in Azerbaijian; Rebecca e la pioggia, on the nomadic tribe of the Dinka of South Sudan; Gerusalemme perduta with Paolo Rumiz, the special correspondent of La Repubblica, on the pellegrinage in the research of the Eastern Christians; Genti di Dio, viaggio nell'Altra Europa, a synthesis of 20 years of research in East Europe and Israel, and her latest book, Bozy ludzie. 

She has screenwritten documentaries, among which is the movie Romani Rat (2002) by M. Orlandi, on the Holocaust of the Roms, with the contribution of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. She's the director, photography director, and screenwriter of the documentary Figli di Noè, about the villages of Caucasus on the border between Dagestan and Azerbaigian.

Bulaj is a TED Fellow. Read TED's Q&A with Monika Bulaj >>

More profile about the speaker
Monika Bulaj | Speaker | TED.com

Data provided by TED.

This site was created in May 2015 and the last update was on January 12, 2020. It will no longer be updated.

We are currently creating a new site called "eng.lish.video" and would be grateful if you could access it.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to write comments in your language on the contact form.

Privacy Policy

Developer's Blog

Buy Me A Coffee